Protect your daughter's sexual health

Wednesday

Sep 26, 2007 at 2:00 AM

Amother recently asked me when she should take her daughter for her first gynecologic exam. Her daughter, Tricia, was going off to college this month and her mom, Linda, wanted to make sure she was healthy and could be safe. Here are some recommendations that I shared with them:

Clare Coleman

Amother recently asked me when she should take her daughter for her first gynecologic exam. Her daughter, Tricia, was going off to college this month and her mom, Linda, wanted to make sure she was healthy and could be safe. Here are some recommendations that I shared with them:

Pap test. Tricia told her mom that she had recently become sexually active and wondered if she should have a Pap test. The Pap test screens for cervical cancer.

A woman should begin having annual Pap tests after she has been sexually active for three years or has reached age 21. Cervical cancer is extremely rare in women under age 25, and it takes years to develop. This means Tricia really doesn't need a Pap test now, but should have one in three years.

Routine use of the Pap test has caused the death rate from cervical cancer in American women to drop by more than 70 percent since the 1960s.

Gynecologic exam. Even though Tricia doesn't need a Pap test yet, she should still have a gynecologic exam. This allows the health-care provider to screen for sexually transmitted infections, such as chlamydia and HIV.

Chlamydia is the most common sexually transmitted infection in the United States. Ninety percent of chlamydia infections are found in sexually active individuals aged 25 years and under. Chlamydia often has no symptoms, but if left untreated can cause fertility problems later in life. If it turns out that Tricia has one sexually transmitted infection, she should be tested for other infections, such as gonorrhea.

Rapid HIV testing is now available in many clinics and doctors' offices. The test is performed by swabbing the mouth, and the results are ready in 20-40 minutes. Tricia will be able to leave her health-care provider's office knowing her HIV status.

Healthy habits. A gynecologic exam is also an opportunity for Tricia to learn some healthy habits that will serve her throughout her life. She will be taught to examine her breasts for lumps.

It's very important that a woman get to know her breasts. Feeling a lump can be scary and uncomfortable for a woman of any age, but if a woman has done self-exams and knows how her breasts usually feel, she will be able to alert her health-care provider and be evaluated if she notices a change.

Birth control. The use of birth control is the only effective way to prevent unintended pregnancy for those who are sexually active. If Tricia is interested in a method of birth control, she can get one without an exam or Pap test.

Many women think they must have a Pap test to go on the pill, start the patch, or use another hormonal method of birth control. This is a myth. Hormonal birth control does not cause cervical cancer. Even if a woman has cervical cancer or the pre-cancerous changes that may lead to cervical cancer, hormonal birth control will not make it worse.

Clare Coleman is CEO of Planned Parenthood Mid-Hudson Valley, which has served the people of Dutchess, Orange, Sullivan and Ulster counties since 1934. The organization provides confidential reproductive health services and sexuality education to more than 50,000 women, men and teens in the area annually. For more information, call 471-1530 or go to www.ppmhv.org.

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